Program Reviews

As the 2nd place winner of the 2021 Gap Years Fair Scholarship by Go Overseas, I decided to use the $5,000 scholarship to enroll in the online course "Foundations in Sustainable Entreprenuership" (along with funding my first year in business as a Global Education DEI Specialist and Content Creator and investing in equipment to expand my content creation).

The course was so awesome and was made up of four other courses:

- GVI Careers in Sustainable Development:

where I learned the basics about choosing a career path that aligns with my values and mission, along with personal branding & marketing

- GVI Impact Measurement:

where I learned about the importance of measuring social and environmental impact in business and the theories behind how to measure that impact

- GVI Leading Teams for Impact:

where I learned about how to implement impact measurement in a team setting and the tools needed to keep teams on their toes on measuring impact

- GVI Social Entrepreneurship and Impact Investing:

where I learned about the behavioral science behind social entrepreneurs, creating impact, and how to find investors who are aligned with your mission to invest in your business or organization

I gained so much from all of these courses as an entrepreneur in my first year in business and know that I will carry the lessons and tools I learned from these courses with me for life.

Also, I took these courses virtually, amidst the pandemic, and got contracted covid myself while I was taking the courses. Luckily for me, I had an amazing support team from GVI who helped me along the way - thank you Tami!

What an experience! In October of this year, I spent six weeks in Kokrobite with GVI Ghana. It was genuinely six of the best weeks of my life. Matt, Zen and all the staff on base are so welcoming. It's literally as if they are welcoming you into their family. You have everything you need on base; great food, facilities, resources for school and projects etc. It makes it so much easier to get the most out of every day. I was an international development intern, which meant I got to attend cool events like YouthConnekt Africa Summit '21 and meetings with GVI Ghana's key local partners. These meetings allowed important community stakeholders to voice their opinions and identify what the most pressing community needs were. It also helped us to draw up projects to address these needs. If I could have changed one thing about my experience, I would have liked to do more of this kind of work. Regardless of what programme you are doing, everyone gives a hand out in the local schools at one point or another. The thing is once you do it once, you want to go back every single day. The kids absolutely idolise the volunteers. It is impossible not to smile from ear to ear when you work with them. I have zero teaching experience but with the support of the other volunteers you learn pretty quickly. If you are not comfortable taking a class by yourself which I wasn't for a little while, you can do one to one learning support with kids who may need it more than others. The kids are so hungry to learn and you can see the happiness it brings them when they learn something new. The evenings and weekends also provided a great opportunity to bond with other volunteers. Between sunrises, sunsets, surf days and weekend trips you share some pretty wholesome experiences together and you will make friends for life. To anyone thinking of going to Ghana, the advice I would give is go for as long as you possibly can. I was there for six weeks and I would have stayed for six months if I could!

GVI has taught me so much from learning my open water to monitoring the 91 fish species we study here. We help out with the coral restoration project, spotted eagle ray & coral disease watch project which have all taught me so much about marine conservation. However as amazing as the science is here the people you share this experience with truly make it. You go from strangers to family within a matter of days & make incredible friendships. I cannot recommend this programme more, i’m so glad I took the plunge & booked it!

When I decided to do an International Development Internship with GVI Ghana I thought I knew what I was getting into. I could not have predicted or imagined all of the amazing experiences I had in Kokrobite, Ghana. Not only did I have an amazing experience culturally in Ghana, I was able to connect with and meet people from all over the world. Not only was I able to enjoy myself in Ghana but I was able to be part of projects and a purpose that I truly believe and make a difference. Originally I had planned to go for 6 weeks but ended up staying for 8 only to leave wishing I had more time with GVI. Ever since I have left I have been thinking about when and where I can do another program. Truly an amazing program with adventure all the while working in an environment that will help build professional experience for my career.

I came with no dive experience and am now on my way to becoming a divemaster. It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it to anybody interested. The staff are great people and very passionate about protecting nature. On one of my last dives we swam with a pod of dolphins, I have swam with eagle rays and schools of 30+ barracudas. The best part about this trip was meeting new people from all over the world, enjoying their company, and learning with them. If you are unaware of the human impact on the earth, the staff here will educate you quite well.

My experience with GVI has been absolutely incredible. The staff team from the very beginning were extremely helpful from the planning of the trip, to continuous support throughout my time in South Africa. The programme itself was more than I could have hoped for. I was able to assist with everything from research drives taking data on the big 5 and focus species, to surveys for birds and invertebrates, community teaching, and reserve work. The internship itself is very well organised and working towards the Biological Survey Techniques qualification over 12 weeks provides continuous new opportunities and ensures you feel like you are always learning! Every day is exciting and you never know what’s going to be behind the next bush! Highly recommend to anyone with an interest in wildlife, science and conservation 😊

In the spring of 2021 I did an online internship for wildlife conservation with GVI. I helped organize camera trap data on pangolins in Thailand. After completing the online internship with GVI, I decided to pursue a career in wildlife conservation. I cannot thank GVI enough for giving me the incredible opportunity. I am also excited to say that I am saving up money to volunteer in person. Volunteering with elephants has always been a dream of mine and now it is a goal. If you are looking to make a difference in the world, GVI is the place to do so.

I've always had a strong desire to be involved in the conservation of our earth, its fauna and flora. The problem is that when you have a full-time job completely outside of this area (I work in the hotel industry), you often don't have much space to be as involved as you'd like. So when the Coronavirus crisis started, I saw an incredible opportunity to be able to get involved in the cause again, following the volunteering I had done with GVI in 2014. I quickly visited GVI's website and saw that they offered online courses for anyone who wanted to learn a little more, in conservation, for my part.
I decided to sign up for the Foundations in Sustainable Development - Conservation course. What I loved was the fact that you could progress at your own pace, with live lectures from time to time (which you can watch later). The courses were very interesting, I feel like I've added to my knowledge, not only in terms of conservation, but also for my daily life. Having been promoted to the position of manager at my work, I was pleased to see that the leadership course gave me a solid foundation to take on these new challenges with less fear and more confidence. I gained knowledge and tips that I use daily in my work. Also, having said that I was not a native French speaker, all the instructors were extremely kind to me, spoke at a pace that suited me perfectly and I felt totally confident to tell if I didn't understand something.
I know that in a few years I would like to change my career to work in conservation and having taken these courses has reinforced this idea, because I felt the involvement of all the participants, the instructors, the workers of GVI and it gives a kind of positive synergy that is hard to ignore.

Have you ever tried to just focus on one thing at a time. No distraction. No influence. My experience with GVI was a bit like that, you see I could fully immerse myself with wildlife, from the moment I woke up right to patrol at night counting turtle eggs. The staff was also brilliant, not only were they a crucial part to my leaning because of their experience mixed with knowledge but they were always positive. I think that was very important because it allowed a safe environment to learn but also a good place to be interactive with both staff and other volunteers. I've enjoyed my stay so much that even though I've been back from this experience for a few days I'm planning to return next year! If I could give two pieces of advice to anyone going is that A) you should really consider to do 4 weeks+ this is because you start having all the opportunities but as soon as you get used to it you leave. B) bring an outfit in a ziplock bag for your flight home because your clothes will smell of Jalova. but just to recap, it's one of the best experience you can get not only to work on conservation but also yourself

I had the best time in Greece working with GVI at the turtle conservation program. It was amazing to experience the nesting and hatching season and to learn how to collect the data. In total I’ve been at the program for 8 weeks and I have learned so much about sea turtles, conservation and GVI. I have met so many new people from all over the world and have made friends for life here. I had the best summer and I will definitely do another program with GVI. will highly recommend this program and GVI in general.